Artistic Approach

Straw as Paint

In the collective imagination, straw marquetry is tied to furniture. Boxes, screens, chests of drawers: since the 17th century, straw has covered, adorned, and decorated. I have chosen an additional path. In my studio, straw does more than wrap objects; it becomes the subject itself. Each panel is a composition designed specifically for the wall, self-contained, and freed from utilitarian purpose.

What interests me is that exact moment when straw stops dressing an object and becomes the artwork itself.

Three Realms, One Signature

The work is organized around three distinct realms. Furniture and decorative objects — trays, mirrors, small accent furniture — root the practice in the long French tradition of decorative arts, granting straw the tactile dimension of everyday items. Geometric compositions, direct heirs to the Art Deco aesthetic, leverage the material’s natural sheen to create shifting reflections depending on the viewing angle. Finally, portraits — animal heads (lion, fox) and female figures — rendered as geometric patterns, form the core of the studio’s signature. It is here that precise drafting, compositional sense, and the patience of the craft align most powerfully.

Craftsmanship and Patience

Each piece is crafted entirely by hand, without any motorized tools. The bone folder flattens and polishes the strand; the scalpel cuts it; the brush applies the glue. For the finest patterns, progress is measured in just a few square centimeters per day. This deliberate slowness gives a finished piece its density — and ensures that no two panels are ever alike.

Materials in Dialogue

The straw, natural or dyed, occasionally enters into dialogue with other materials — leather, gold leaf. These pairings remain rare, always driven by the needs of the piece, never for mere effect. Straw always retains the leading role.

French Material, a Short Supply Chain

The straw used is exclusively French rye straw, sourced from a single cereal grower. Working with this material means choosing a short supply chain, a craft anchored in a specific territory, and a natural resource whose brilliance — resulting from the silica absorbed by the plant during its growth — stands completely on its own, without any varnish.